1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for assembling cable harnesses and in particular to an apparatus which sequentially applies multi-terminal carrying connectors to the proper locations of multi-conductor cable.
2. The Prior Art
It is often necessary to provide a multi-conductor cable harness with a plurality of connectors spaced therealong at appropriate intervals. The thus formed harness can then be used to interconnect a plurality of like units, such as printed circuit boards, all of which are similarly powered and actuated.
While it is possible to form harnesses from individual conductors, the most convenient way of making a multi-conductor harness is to utilize flat cable formed by a plurality of parallel conductors embedded in a layer of insulation. However, there are problems with alignment of such cable to accurately terminate the conductors. These problems are, in part, caused by drift of the conductors within tolerances, within the cable and uneven flash at the edge of the cable. There are also problems associated with known machinery for assembling harnesses in both indexing the cable for correct termination and cutting the cable at the ends of the harness.